Italy: Italo incentives still going strong

Location: Europe 2012 - Italy

Despite the rocky local economy, Italy’s generous tax credits for foreign productions offering up to 25% of a pic’s budget, capped at $6.5 million, are still in place. They have been luring a limited number of foreign pics, most notably Amber Entertainment’s “Romeo and Juliet” adaptation.

As for other Italo incentives, a few of the country’s smaller regional funds are starting to shrink, but national film fund leader, the Piedmont region, is still going strong. And two new regional players have sprouted: the BSL Tyrol-Alto Adige Film Fund and neighboring rival the Trentino Film Commission, which has a fund to be unveiled at Cannes.

BSL has just backed Giuseppe Tornatore’s “The Best Offer,” an Italian production set in the world of Viennese art auctions, co-financed by Warner Bros. and toplining Geoffrey Rush and Jim Sturgess.

In Italy’s south, the Lazio Film Commission, comprising Rome, is the most active. But south of Rome the new hotspot for local movies is the Apulia region, which will soon be launching incentives also for international pics. In central Italy, the Tuscany Film Commission is the most active, recently hosting MTV’s “Jersey Shore” and Chinese soap “The China Story,” from CCTV.